I love the tiny little flowers in front of the foreground rock in the first image. it gives it that much more depth. The sky is beautiful here.

I like both versions of the aspens - probably lean towards the color version as slightly stronger. The backlit situation here makes the contrast duller in the B&W version - only on the trees, of course, the sunlit foliage is lovely in B&W.

That's a lot of the challenge with most of red rock country - the skies are such a hard clear blue, beautiful but not exactly adding drama to the landscape! The Golden Hour is the photographer's best friend out there in the absence of clouds.

Stunning shots, Fox Paw! And such detail...I love the little starburst-like look of the flowers dotting the foreground in the first one (with the lovely colour of the red hills in the background). And the shot looking up at the sundappled trees really appeals to me